samedi 18 octobre 2014

NHS to offer tablet which can reduce HIV risk by 90%

Saturday 18 October 2014

Hailed as the most significant breakthrough against the virus in a generation

It is hoped the trial could be rolled out nationally from as early as 2017. The drug was offered alongside HIV testing, condoms and other safe sex support to gay and bisexual men and transgender women who had recently had unprotected sex.

Previous studies have found that if taken consistently Truvada can prevent infection in nine out of 10 cases – potentially saving the NHS millions of pounds each year in long-term treatment.

Last year 6,000 people were diagnosed with the condition – more than half of whom are gay or bisexual men. It is estimated that nearly 100,000 people in the UK are currently living with HIV with a fifth of those believed to be undiagnosed.

Dr McCormack said it would be of particular benefit to those who had recently contracted the virus but were unaware they had it - the group believed to be driving the number of infections to the current stubbornly high levels.

Dr Rosemary Gillespie, chief executive at Terrence Higgins Trust, said it was highly unusual to fast-track research in this way.

“This is potentially the most exciting development in HIV prevention in some years,” she said. “The PROUD study has accelerated their part of the process. We will now be looking to the NHS to match that pace, and act swiftly to ensure those most at risk of HIV in the UK can access PrEP,” she added.

Yusef Azad, director of policy and campaigns at the National AIDS Trust, said HIV transmission rates remained far too high and that the drug offered a potentially potent new addition in the prevention options available to doctors. “These encouraging results provide powerful evidence that PrEP should be accessible to all who need it as soon as possible,” he said.

Dr Adrian Palfreeman, vice chair of the British HIV Association, said he was working with NHS England to devise a new policy to make PrEPs more readily available.

However, researchers said more work needed to be done to find out how the drugs could affect the sexual behaviour of the most at-risk groups. It was also not known whether those individuals would agree to take them or if wide scale prescription would be cost effective.

Despite being available for two years in the United States, the take-up rate among HIV negative gay men has been low – around 10,000 prescriptions annually- with claims of hostility among some sections of the gay community.